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Cuomo first landed in hot water while discussing the state of the Republican Party with The Capitol Pressroom radio show Friday. While saying that he believes the partisan gridlock in the District of Columbia are the result of internal tensions between moderate and conservative Republicans, he also added that those tensions are playing out in New York State.

“You have the Republican Party searching for identity; they are searching to define their soul,” Cuomo said. “Their problem is not me and Democrats, their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives, who are right to life, pro assault weapon, anti-gay, is that who they are?

The backlash that has followed has primarily focused on Cuomo’s follow-up: “Because if that is who they are, and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York. Because that is not who New Yorkers are.”

“I think we may have seen the real Cuomo here in that remark,” Cox said Tuesday, reflecting frustration from conservatives over the comments.

On Saturday, the governor’s office released a statement saying that the comments were taken out of context, saying that the comments were intended as an analysis of the political likelihood of an extreme right candidate winning public office in New York.

“If you read the transcript, it is clear that the Governor was making the observation that an extreme right candidate cannot win statewide because this is a politically moderate state,” the statement read.

For his part, Cox is dismissing the explanation offered in the statement and calling for an apology from the governor, not just a statement from his office.

“The remark stands for itself, what it is. He specified people who are pro-life and are pro-Second Amendment. He said they have no place in New York. Especially New York that prides itself on diversity,” Cox said. “If he didn’t mean it, apologize for it and let’s move on. But he hasn’t apologized, he’s tried to explain it.”